Tobacco Epidemic in India Evidence from NFHS-3

Present study focuses on socio-economic and demographic differentials and its linkages between smoking and use of smokeless tobacco with the prevalence of Tuberculosis and Asthma among smokers and users of smokeless tobacco in India. This study has utilized the data from third round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) conducted in 2005-06 in all 29 state of India. In order to accomplish the objectives dealing with the socio-economic and demographic differentials in tobacco use and prevalence of Tuberculosis and Asthma bivariate analysis and logistics regression analysis have been used. The study reveals that the prevalence of smoking among men is very high comparatively women in India; one third of men (34 percent) are smoking while only around 2 percent women are smoking. The prevalence of smokeless tobacco is around four times more among men than women; it is 37.4 percent among men and 9.6 percent among women. The study reveals that the overall prevalence of tuberculosis is 0.8 percent among smokers and 0.9 percent among users of smokeless. The prevalence of Asthma is 2.5 percent among smokers and 1.8 percent among users of smokeless.